Task force leaders probing Trump assassination attempts concerned over "culture of silence" within Secret Service

Washington — Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, the top Democrat on the bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump, said he's concerned that "there's a culture of silence" at the Secret Service that prevents agents from speaking out when they should. 

"I was struck by the stories in the recount of the specific actions of officers and agents on the ground that day," Crow said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." "There were some heroic ones, but there were also a lot of examples of people that knew that something was wrong and they didn't say anything."

The task force, which the House voted to establish earlier this year, in recent days wrapped up its work probing security failures surrounding the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the Sept. 15 foiled attempt in West Palm Beach, Florida. In the wake of the initial attack, the Secret Service came under intense scrutiny, leading to the resignation of its director. 

Last week, Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe testified before the panel in its final hearing, where he acknowledged the Secret Service's failure to adequately secure the area in Butler, noted "critical gaps" within the agency's operations and said "we did not meet the expectations of the American public, Congress, and our protectees." He noted that it has been his "singular focus to bring much-needed reform to the Secret Service.

He added that the agency is "operating in a heightened threat environment, with expanding protection requirements."

"The responsibilities of the Secret Service are critical to the national security of the United States," Rowe said, adding that "our agency is not defined by one failure, but by our ability to learn from mistakes."

Task force chairman Rep. Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican whose district includes Butler, said the agency lacks the leadership it needs. And he argued that when the Secret Service was brought under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security, "they took away their identity — their exclusivity."

"When you're the best of the best, when you're the elite of the elites, if you lose that, then all of a sudden you just become part of a team," Kelly said on "Face the Nation." "That was a huge mistake."

On the July 13 attack, Kelly said the Secret Service failed "at every step of the way."

"They failed from the first thing, from the picking of the site, the preparing the site to the coordination of the site, the ability to communicate," Kelly said, adding that there was no team meeting before the event, and local law enforcement wasn't included in the planning. 

"On July 13, there was a lack of professionalism, there was a lack of concern, there was a lack of coordination, and the ability to communicate is the one thing I'll never understand," Kelly said. "You knew you couldn't talk to each other. Why did you go forward?"

Crow said important questions remain about the shooter in Butler and would-be shooter in West Palm Beach, saying that the task force submitted numerous requests to the Justice Department and FBI about their motivations. Crow claimed that the requests have been denied because the criminal investigations are ongoing, calling it an "unacceptable position" and accused the agencies of trying to "stonewall" Congress on the issue. 

The Colorado Democrat argued that when it comes to the Secret Service, there is a "systematic problem here." He noted that although there are "plenty of extraordinary agents and officers" in the Secret Service, there was a "failure of mission" in Butler.

"The structure, the personnel, the staffing of the Secret Service hasn't changed in years, at the same time as we are now asking them to do things that they didn't do a decade ago," Crow said, saying the tempo of the job leaves agents without time for adequate training. "We are not developing their skills and their training, and I think you see the results of that."

Meanwhile, Kelly said the task force has been working since Day One to try to help restore trust and confidence in the Secret Service, which he said was likely at "the lowest ebb" in its history. And he acknowledged the relentless pressure on the Secret Service. 

"You've got to be ready every single moment for anything that could possibly happen. Is that a difficult task? Yes, is it almost impossible?" Kelly said. "But you know what's not impossible, our dedication to the fact that we're going to do the best we can do every single day to ensure that the American people have the faith and trust and confidence they must have in us."